Complaints, Compliments and Comments
We're committed to providing quality housing services and to do this we need to know what’s working well and also what we need to do to improve.
Our dedicated Customer Experience Team administer all complaints, compliments and comments and Councillor and MP enquiries. The team also follow up on survey responses.
What is a complaint
A complaint is:
An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents.
A complaint is not:
- An initial request for service - This is a request from a customer to us requiring action to be taken to put something right. (Service requests can become complaints if we fail to deal with the initial request appropriately.)
- A service that Platform do not provide
- Customer survey feedback
- An information request
- Chasing up of defects within the first twelve months for new build properties, complaint investigations would only be undertaken to look at the way the requests had been handled
- Request for clarification of a situation and/ or policy or procedures
- Any issue that is subject to legal proceedings
- Insurance claims or issues that will be subject to an insurance claim
- Complaints where the issues have not previously been brought to our attention and are more than 12 months old
- Previous complaints that have already been investigated and determined.
Complaint, Compliment or Comment Form
What happens when we receive your complaint.
Formal Complaint Investigation
Investigation by an Officer that has not previously been involved in the case.
- All Formal Complaints will be acknowledged by the Customer Experience Team within five working days following receipt of the complaints.
- All complaint investigations will involve us making contact with you, either by telephone, e-mail, or in person.
- We aim to have completed our investigations into your complaint within 10 working days. However, we want to ensure that your complaint is thoroughly investigated and understand that some complaints are more complex and may need more time to investigate.
- If we need more time, we will make sure this is agreed with you and that we will keep in regular contact.
Final Review – Review by Senior Manager
If you want your complaint to be escalated to Final Review then please come back to us within 15 working days to let us know what part of your complaint remains unresolved.
Where other matters are introduced, these will be dealt with separately and the current complaint will be deemed as resolved.
On receipt of all Final Review requests, the Customer Experience Team will send you an acknowledgement within five working days following receipt to confirm:
- The name of the person who is dealing with the complaint (Senior Investigating Officer)
- The process that will be followed
- The timescales for investigation
On acceptance of a Final Review request, a Senior Manager or a member of the Customer Experience Management Team will review the complaint and will make personal contact with you. They will aim to respond in writing within 20 working days. Some complaints are more complex and may need more time, we will make sure that we discuss this with you and keep in regular contact.
If you feel that your complaint remains unresolved
Following completion of our internal procedure you can refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service by calling 0300 111 3000 or by email info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
How to contact the Housing Ombudsman Service
The best way to get complaints resolved is to speak to us directly. We have a procedure in place to ensure that your complaint is dealt with effectively.
However you are able to contact the Housing Ombudsman Service at any point for independent help and advice.
If you have exhausted our Complaint Procedure and you remain dissatisfied, you are able to refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service.
The details for the Housing Ombudsman Service are as follows:
You can call the Housing Ombudsman Service on: 0300 1113000
You can email the Housing Ombudsman Service: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
You can find out more at the Housing Ombudsman Website here.
Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code
Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code
In September 2020 the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) introduced a new Complaint Handling Code. The purpose of the Code was to enable us and other landlords to resolve complaints raised by customers quickly and to use the learning from complaints to drive service improvements.
The Complaint Handling Code was made statutory on 1 April 2024 meaning that we are obliged by law to follow its requirements.
What is the Complaint Handling Code?
Key areas of the Code include:
- universal definition of a complaint
- providing easy access to the complaints procedure and ensuring customers are aware of it, including their right to access the Housing Ombudsman Service
- the structure of the complaint's procedure - only 2 stages necessary and clear times set out for responses
- ensuring fairness in complaint handling with a customer-focused process
- taking action to put things right and appropriate remedies
- creating a positive complaint handling culture through continuous learning and improvement
- demonstrating learning in annual reports
- annual self-assessment against the Code
Watch this helpful video that looks at what the Complaint Handling Code is.
Annual Submissions
We have completed an annual self-assessment against the code since it was introduced in 2020. We now need to submit this to the Housing Ombudsman Service at the end of June each year. Alongside our self-assessment against the code we also need to complete an Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement report, both documents can be found below:
Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report 2023 – 2024
Governing Body Response - June 2024
Here at Platform, we are committed to delivering a customer-first housing experience for a better future. Our vision is to create homes everyone is proud of and places where people thrive. However, we know that we do not always get this right and that is why it is important our customers tell us when we are not hitting the mark, so we can learn from our mistakes and do something about this.
We have a dedicated Customer Experience Team at Platform and part of their role is to manage our complaints handling process and to ensure that complaints are handled fairly, professionally and in a timely manner. They also help us identify lessons learned and service improvements.
At the senior level of the organisation, we also have clear visibility of all the complaints that we are handling, and we have recently appointed a Board Member who, on behalf of the wider Board, seeks assurance that we are proactively acting from the themes and lessons learned from our complaints.
As part of the new Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling code, we are pleased to share our complaints performance with customers for the 23/24 financial year and outline the actions we have taken because of this feedback.
We recognise that we still have some work to do in terms of response times and some service improvements, but we believe that being honest and transparent about our performance helps us to remain focused on these areas.
Download our Customer Feedback Leaflet (Complaints Procedure) here.
Here is our Complaints Comments and Compliments Policy.